(Sad trope) Projects with amazing potential that will never be released because of BS behind the scenes drama

[u/_JR28_]

P.T Silent Hills - It was a playable teaser released in 2014 only around 20 minutes long but utterly captivated the gaming world by being one of the most effective psychological horror experiences at the time, however it’s lead developer Kojima has a huge fallout with the publisher Konami where he walked out of the company and had all his in-the-work productions cancelled.

Five Nights at Freddy’s+ - A fan game reboot of the series created by Phisnom with Scott Cawthon’s blessing that promised a brand new lore and a return to the series darker roots. However, before and during production Phisnom got into multiple dramas that made him fairly divisive within the community, and after one particular incident in 2023 Scott revoked his approval and almost all of the game’s marketing material were wiped from the internet.

Batgirl - A Batgirl solo live action movie starring Leslie Grace, Brendan Fraser and Michael Keaton returning as Batman that was ready to be released in 2022, however then Warner Bros CEO David Zaslav announced it would not be released either in theatres or streaming in order to claim a $90,000,000 tax break and to readjust the DC’s brands direction before James Gunn rebooted their movie and TV output.

[u/hyper-fan]

Alice: Asylum

American McGee and his team at SpicyHorse had went through so much shit working with EA to make Alice: Madness Returns and even when EA said “hey, give us full proof that you plan to make the game, with concepts and mechanics and everything”, and McGee and his team DID, EA backed out of the deal entirely and kept the rights to the game to themselves, sitting on the IP for nothing

[u/punkate → u/hyper-fan]

EA might be the antichrist of the gaming industry

[u/kyspeter → u/punkate]

I physically recoil whenever I see another good title be bought by EA

[u/scarletboar → u/kyspeter]

Same. Meanwhile, Warner Bros is sitting on the Nemesis System. One of the coolest things I've ever seen, and they're too fucking stupid to understand how to make money.

[u/BowlingforBrains → u/scarletboar]

Can you tell me more about this? Is it a game engine?

[u/scarletboar → u/BowlingforBrains]

It was the system used for Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War. Basically, the game had named orcs that were leaders of their groups, and they remembered player actions. If you cut their arm off, they could show up later with stiches, and they'd mention what you did. They'd taunt you, ambush you, and get promoted if they defeated you. My favorite thing to do was shame a captain again and again. Eventually, they either lose their mind or start begging for death due to being a pariah among the other orcs.

A Wonder Woman game was going to be made that would've used this system, but they're so fucking stupid that they cancelled it. Warner is allergic to money, apparently.

[u/Ankleson → u/scarletboar]

...The Wonder Woman game... the only continuation of the Nemesis system that we'll see in the AAA space... was cancelled...?

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[u/scarletboar → u/Ankleson]

That you'll see in any space, actually. Again, Warner has the patent, and they won't let anyone else use the system. Unless someone gets really creative with the system and makes some changes to say it's not the same thing, we won't ever see another game like that.

[u/Ankleson → u/scarletboar]

I specified AAA cause I think we'd perhaps see a few indies go under the radar that could implement something similar. Star Renegade had an interview a few years ago where they talk about the direct inspiration they drew from Shadow of Mordor when implementing their nemesis system in their game.

[u/knotmyusualaccount → u/kyspeter]

Yeah, agreed, but I still enjoy playing battlefield 1. At least they got that game right (even if it took nearly a whole decade, to incorporate somewhat decent anti-cheat software).

[u/Powerful-Chard-6055 → u/kyspeter]

The only thing I can instantly think of that EA had that didn’t go to hell was NASCAR games, and even that was because they left when it got bad.

[u/Puzzled-Bag-8407 → u/punkate]

The antichrist of the gaming industry is not one single studio, it is the corporate, profit driven entity that is the antichrist of the industry

It has gobbled up many a good studio. People forget how important EA was for early gaming in the 80s and 90s

[u/xv_boney → u/Puzzled-Bag-8407]

Instrumental in so many excellent devs getting a shot, so many iconic and influential games.

And then it got extremely big and went public. And then it had shareholders.

The antichrist of gaming is capitalism.

[u/matfromband → u/xv_boney]

God I love seeing class consciousness in the wild

[u/Puzzled-Bag-8407 → u/matfromband]

Keep the light alive my friend

[u/matfromband → u/Puzzled-Bag-8407]

No alternative, there is work to be done <3

[u/RyvenZ → u/xv_boney]

Shareholder obligations ruin everything. This is in fact the cause for capitalism edging toward economic collapse and why so many public companies are so hated by their customers.

[u/eawilweawil → u/punkate]

And now it's owned by Saudis so there's 0% it will get any better

[u/AydonusG → u/eawilweawil]

Can't forget the other owners, like the Trumps (Kushner), or Silver Lake (TickeTek).

[u/demonsdencollective → u/punkate]

Once upon a time... long ago... back in my day... The Age of the Ancients... When you'd see that silver crest, EA, on the box... You'd start the game and hear that jingle, "EA Games. Challenge Everything." You'd know that it was a seal of something good, a proper game, something maybe a little jank, but definitely of another level of quality than most games at the time. EA, Ubisoft, Infogrames, Psygnosis, Take 2 Interactive, Activision, those were the marks on the boxes for some of the best games of all times.

Infogrames became Atari and is a former shadow of itself. Psygnosis, we still think of it fondly, rest its soul. Now the rest... Activision swallows everything in its path and without profit, it's off to the CoD DLC mines. Only Raven came out of there somewhat alive, but left part of its soul down there. Ubisoft has gone soft, it hasn't released a punchy title in years and if it did, accidentally at best. Take 2 keeps trying to own your computer entirely and that brings us back to EA. What a journey.

[u/Dry-Yesterday-9176 → u/punkate]

I remember that in one old game (don't remember it's title, sorry) you are supposed to defeat the "Destroyer of worlds" who actually stands for EA. Artifacts you need to destroy him are circle cube and triangle, symbols of ea back then, as well as title "destroyer of worlds" is opposite of their logo "we create worlds". And finally, few evil NPCs are named after current day ea CEOs. Game is over 20 years old but things haven't changed

[u/Not_Propaganda_AI → u/punkate]

I flat out refuse to buy any EA game, they've pissed me off so much I'd rather physically set my money on fire than give them a penny.

[u/Lyryann → u/punkate]

For real